BATTER UP!

[HudsonHawk]

Interesting to see the front page of today's Brooklyn Eagle in 1939 (see the Era Day by Day thread) with an enormous eight-column screamer headline giving the outcome of the day's World Series game, above even the war news from Europe. And the Dodgers weren't even playing.

You don't see that kind of coverage in today's media -- baseball was the unquestioned king of spectator sports then, and everybody cared, even if it wasn't your team playing. I don't think you get that kind of coverage now -- sure, the playoffs aren't the World Series, but how often do you get that kind of coverage for a Series game now? The Boston papers and the New York papers will go full-screamer if there's a local team playing, but would they give the same coverage to, say, a Nationals-Rays series?

But how much of that is due to the fact that 1) newspapers are no longer the source of information for most people, and 2) people watched the game on television and didn't need to read the paper to know what happened? Sure, a Rays/Nationals World Series would not hold the interest that a Yankees/Dodgers would, and baseball doesn't hold the edge it used to, but I think it's decline is often exaggerated, due more to the rise of other spectator sports than a lack of interest in baseball itself. I think football has become the king of spectator sports because it's easier to gamble on, not because people like football better.

 

[HudsonHawk]

That's why I was so surprised that ESPN had the results/images/etc. of a mid-season football game on its landing page versus a playoff baseball game. The cynic in me wonders if there's some agenda afoot.

ESPN pumps football up because it has a huge financial interest in both the NFL and college football. Go to Fox Sports' website right now and the top few pages are promoting professional wrestling...because they have a financial interest in the WWE.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The gambling angle does explain a lot, I agree -- which is probably why baseball has stopped dancing delicately around the issue and seems now to be embracing it. I looked up this summer at the big MGM Casino ad painted on The Wall at Fenway and could, off in the distance, hear the shade of Judge Landis screaming.

It's interesting, though, that even in 1939 there's an awareness of the gambling angle ==the Eagle spills quite a bit of ink in its sports section discussing the betting odds on the Series, even though sports gambling, with the exception of horse racing, was, at the time, technically illegal in New York. (Technically illegal meaning, of course, as long as you cut in the local cop on the proceeds.)

 

[belfastboy]

There may be some juicing up the ball, and I think in general players are bigger and stronger than they've ever been, which helps the power game, but the biggest change is simply the approach. It's not that batted balls are simply traveling farther than they used to, but players are actively trying to hit them, even at the expense of contact. That's evident in the huge increase in strikeouts, something that is independent of the juiced ball. Strikeout rates for both pitcher and hitters have skyrocketed and pitchers are reaching strikeout milestones at an alarming rate. I think part of this is that pitchers have simply gotten better and throw a lot harder than they used to. It used to be if you threw 93-94, that was considered above-average, and you could count on one hand the guys who threw 98. Now a mid-90s fastball is considered mediocre, and every team has multiple guys who throw 100+, which used to be considered generational ability.

Another factor that I think is overlooked is how good players are nowadays with the glove. What used to be a spectacular play is now routine and expected. Outfielders are much faster, cover more ground, and rarely drop a ball. Infielders can get to what seems like everything, and they throw 90 mph across the diamond. Errors by infielders are half of what they were 50 years ago. Infield shifts have robbed more base hits than Bill Mazeroski and Ozzie Smith put together.

All of this has added up to the realization (or acceptance, depending on your viewpoint) that a strikeout is not statistically any worse of an outcome than any other out, while extra base hits, especially home runs obviously, significantly increase your chances of scoring a run. So technology being what it is these days, teams and players have actively looked for factors that affect batted distance, and voila, "exit velocity" and "launch angle" become all the rage.

Plus, chicks dig the long ball.

Watch Bo Bichette for the definitive new approach to hitting. Not a big guy by any stretch but every ball in the zone he is all out attack mode AND he has phenom hand to eye.

 

[Harp]

Too many layers of playoffs now -- it dilutes interest and makes the regular season far less meaningful. Soon baseball will be like the NHL, a sport nobody pays attention to until about the third round of the playoffs.

As much as I hate to see the season come to an end each year, there's something immoral about baseball extending into November. When you see Christmas commercials during the World Series, it's a sign there's something wrong.

Baseball's season should end September 15th; World Series won and done.
Regular season play ending third week in August.
Divisional playoffs should be a single game, a one-shot deal, win or lose. Wildcard discarded entirely.
League playoff games limited to three at one locale per coin flip; none of the "series within the Series."
American and National League winners meet for the World Series, best out of five; and, if the initial home team
wins the first two games, locale will not change.

The professional game needs individual emphasis, each game, each inning,
every plate appearance counts within a more limited context.
Hopefully, truncating will force greater accountability to the game itself, and how it should be played, not as it is currently with an antiseptic home run derbyism mentality. Baseball really needs to be cut down to the bone, leaving muscle and sinew but scraping away the fat.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Baseball's season should end September 15th; World Series won and done.
Regular season play ending third week in August.
Divisional playoffs should be a single game, a one-shot deal, win or lose. Wildcard discarded entirely.
League playoff games limited to three at one locale per coin flip; none of the "series within the Series."
American and National League winners meet for the World Series, best out of five; and, if the initial home team
wins the first two games, locale will not change.

The professional game needs individual emphasis, each game, each inning,
every plate appearance counts within a more limited context.
Hopefully, truncating will force greater accountability to the game itself, and how it should be played, not as it is currently with an antiseptic home run derbyism mentality. Baseball really needs to be cut down to the bone, leaving muscle and sinew but scraping away the fat.

What an absolutely terrible idea. Baseball is a chess match, not a game of rock/paper/scissors.

 

[Harp]

What an absolutely terrible idea. Baseball is a chess match, not a game of rock/paper/scissors.

I agree; however, my post concerned the season length, not the game itself, which demands concentration
and deliberate focus.

 

[HudsonHawk]

I agree; however, my post concerned the season length, not the game itself, which demands concentration
and deliberate focus.

Shortening the season is one thing. I could support that. But the fundamental nature of baseball is that it's not a sprint or a single contest kind of game. The season is long for a reason. The game is 9 innings long for a reason. Reducing it to one game, or one inning or one at bat defies the nature of the game. It's a game that sets you up for failure and overcoming that fundamental aspect is what makes players and teams great.

 

[Harp]

Shortening the season is one thing. I could support that. But the fundamental nature of baseball is that it's not a sprint or a single contest kind of game. The season is long for a reason. The game is 9 innings long for a reason. Reducing it to one game, or one inning or one at bat defies the nature of the game...

I never said that the game is a sprint or a single contest competition. What I did advocate for is an abbreviated
regular season and a limited, more focused playoff structure. Nor did I say anything about a sole inning or bat; rather
that every round and plate appearance factors. The game I observe shows player fatigue, complacency, an over-long
season grind to which travel adds further burden. The playoff system can be retooled with a more pronounced
emphasis on winning; overall a more competitive game. Current theories to limit actual game time length by increased
regulations such as pitcher timing and limited mound conference allowance subscribe to what is perceived as the
public tolerance. Starting rotation and bullpen condition throughout the game is another factor that needs to be addressed but relates to my remarks. The game itself is inherently dynamic, and is evolving both on and off the field.
Accommodative change will come to mitigate certain issues and hopefully better structure the professional game.

 

[HudsonHawk]

My biggest complain is that there isn't enough baseball, not that there is too much. I guess everyone's mileage varies.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"What do I do in the winter, when there's no baseball? I stare out the window and wait for spring." -- Rogers Hornsby

 

[Harp]

My biggest complain is that there isn't enough baseball, not that there is too much. I guess everyone's mileage varies.

No worries-I'm such a whackjob. I too enjoy its seasonal length but this year the Cubs experienced a physical
breakdown with rotation and bullpen; other issues-not all of which were somatic-and the dragout grind prompted
some revised thought.

 

[Fading Fast]

So, thoughts - did MLB bring back the not-juiced balls for the playoffs?

 

[HudsonHawk]

So, thoughts - did MLB bring back the not-juiced balls for the playoffs?

Conspiracy theorists everywhere think so. I even saw some astrophysicist talking about a different drag coefficient (how she measured it, I don't know) on the postseason balls. I think the change in weather has as much to do with it. It was 40-something degrees in St. Louis last night. Balls simply die in the cold, dry air.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Go Nats! I had an interesting epiphany during last night's game -- I realized about halfway thru that I could simply take no more of Joe Buck's incessant vapid babble. Syncing up with the radio wasn't an option either, because Dan Shulman is just as obnoxious, and the feeds won't sync anyway. So I just muted the sound, period, and watched the entire second half of the game silent. It was glorious. No parsing of every trivial statistic down to the last possible molecule, no endless rehashing of "storylines," no screaming at every pop fly -- just watching the game and interpreting it for myself.

I think the thing that drove me over the edge was when somebody dredged up who the youngest player to get two extra base hits in a World Series game is. Who the hell cares? What kind of statistic is that? It wouldn't even make it to the cartoon on the back of a bubble-gum card in 1969. Why are you even bringing it up? If you have nothing to say just -- shut -- up.

I'll be watching the rest of the Series on mute. It'll be wonderful.

 

[Fading Fast]

Go Nats! I had an interesting epiphany during last night's game -- I realized about halfway thru that I could simply take no more of Joe Buck's incessant vapid babble. Syncing up with the radio wasn't an option either, because Dan Shulman is just as obnoxious, and the feeds won't sync anyway. So I just muted the sound, period, and watched the entire second half of the game silent. It was glorious. No parsing of every trivial statistic down to the last possible molecule, no endless rehashing of "storylines," no screaming at every pop fly -- just watching the game and interpreting it for myself.

I think the thing that drove me over the edge was when somebody dredged up who the youngest player to get two extra base hits in a World Series game is. Who the hell cares? What kind of statistic is that? It wouldn't even make it to the cartoon on the back of a bubble-gum card in 1969. Why are you even bringing it up? If you have nothing to say just -- shut -- up.

I'll be watching the rest of the Series on mute. It'll be wonderful.

The made-up statistics - yes, they're accurate, but made-up in that they don't tell you anything about anything that matters in any way - is the curse that big data brought to baseball.

I do like that strong starting pitchers who can go deep into a game are getting some respect again owing to the World Series.

I am going to miss baseball in a week.

 

[3fingers]

I could simply take no more of Joe Buck's incessant vapid babble.

His father was a legend in this part of the world. Joe is not and never will be except in his own mind. I'm not sure why he isn't selling insurance or used cars in a small town somewhere.

 

[belfastboy]

Go Nats! I had an interesting epiphany during last night's game -- I realized about halfway thru that I could simply take no more of Joe Buck's incessant vapid babble. Syncing up with the radio wasn't an option either, because Dan Shulman is just as obnoxious, and the feeds won't sync anyway. So I just muted the sound, period, and watched the entire second half of the game silent. It was glorious. No parsing of every trivial statistic down to the last possible molecule, no endless rehashing of "storylines," no screaming at every pop fly -- just watching the game and interpreting it for myself.

I think the thing that drove me over the edge was when somebody dredged up who the youngest player to get two extra base hits in a World Series game is. Who the hell cares? What kind of statistic is that? It wouldn't even make it to the cartoon on the back of a bubble-gum card in 1969. Why are you even bringing it up? If you have nothing to say just -- shut -- up.

I'll be watching the rest of the Series on mute. It'll be wonderful.

The hallmark of every TV play by play/colour guy is vapid drivel. As a long suffering BlueJays fan i have to put up with Buck and Tabler plus bluejay ineptitude. Oh well at least the teams with the two best uniforms made it to the series.

 

[Fading Fast]

...Oh well at least the teams with the two best uniforms made it to the series.

Wow, I'm confused, the Yankees and Dodgers are in the World Series this year?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Nice defense for Houston there in the seventh inning. "A ground ball? These days??? Who knows how to field a ground ball?"